Review: Canon LiDE 220 Scanner

The Canon LiDE 220 scanner is the new edition of the LiDE 210 that I was using until it broke down months ago.

Even though my previous scanner broke down, I still went back to buying a Canon scanner is because the image quality of the scan is amazing. In a separate review that I've compared with other scanners, I still prefer the scan from the Canon LiDE.

The new LiDE 220 has a darker shade.

The shortcut buttons are still the same. I've never used them before.

This is a very compact flatbed scanner. It can also stand with the provided stand.

The scanning resolution is 4800 by 4800 which is excellent, more than what artists would normally need.

The best thing about the scanner is it can even pick up the grain of the paper it scans at default settings.

Colour depth when scanning is up 48-bit for colour and grayscale 16-bit. The scans above were edited for exposure to remove the paper texture.

It's an excellent scanner for scanning artworks.

There's one downside though. It will not scan properly if the paper is not totally flat and in contact with the glass. Even if the paper is raised up a bit, say about 0.1mm because of paper warping, the scan in that area will turn out blur.

When I scan loose sheets of watercolour paintings, I always make sure to press down the paper to make sure it is completely flat.

Another issue is the scanning software. Usually I prefer the use the TWAIN plugin so that I can scan from inside Photoshop. It seems that the support has been removed. So with this scanner, I've to use Image Capture (on Mac OS) instead. There are scanner drivers and software provided by Canon on a disc but I tend not to install them unless I need more features.

The one new feature the 220 has over the 210 is the ability to send your save the scan to the cloud server, but you need to have Evernote or Dropbox software install.

Other than the issue that I think it's a fantastic scanner that I can recommend to all artists. The image quality of the scan is excellent.

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